Name: Janice Darlene Crum
Birth: 18 Oct 1941 – Contra Costa, California

Name: Janice M Crum
Birth: 6 Sep 1946
Residence: 1993 – Oakland, CA

Name: Janice E Crum
Birth: 27 Jan 1939
Residence: 1993 – Ceres, CA

These are the Janice Crums in CA, old enough to have been mentioned in the Biechler letter, all within Zodiac’s stomping grounds.

I think it’s rather interesting that the P.S. from "Janice Crum" states "he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her". You’re right, morf, that the letter really doesn’t describe any actual relationship other than a one-way lecherous infatuation but Janice Crum (who is likely the letter writer commenting on himself in the 3rd person) refers to a relationship, which could certainly just be imaginary. "Janice" also refers to Lindy by her full name, including middle name, which seems to indicate some pretty close familiarity.

The identified letter writer is dismissive of her as a victim and focused on taunting police while "Janice" is apologetic and refers to her as a human being with a middle name and all. When I have some time, I need to go through the entire letter and offer some opinions. I think it is really interesting and there are some (possibly) telling contradictions.

Indeed..I also read the letter 20 times before realizing his close connection to her. The only thing I wonder about is that Lindy had someone peeking through her windows and had mentioned it to her friends shortly before she died. There are (at least) two possibilities: Either she could not recognize him (e.g. in the dark) or she did not know that person. Would be interesting to read those witness reports. Nevertheless, that relationship sounds to be rather more that just the guy around the corner or her neighbor. The (co-)author also mentions where her killer / the author spends his time on weekdays, so it rather may stand for a ‘real’ relationship, also because he appeared to talk about that relationship. Jmo. Do we know anything about Lindy’s ex boyfriends? The website lindyandchristy appears to be offline..

QT

Of course it makes sense to look at people close to Lindy, QT. I would tend to think though that somebody genuinely close to her like a co-worker or ex-boyfriend would not likely seek to draw attention to that fact unless he was psychotic or something. A stalker, on the other hand, might perceive himself to have a relationship with his potential victim even if the victim wouldn’t see it that way. Unfortunately, we’ll never know whether Lindy recognized this guy.

The lindyandchristy website has been offline for some time. I forget whether it was Lindy’s brother or a relative of Christy Mirack that created that but I would hope that it is put back up.

QT just my opinion, but you are taking the details of that letter as if the writer is being true and honest, and there’s no way to know if he is

QT just my opinion, but you are taking the details of that letter as if the writer is being true and honest, and there’s no way to know if he is

Of course we can doubt many things. Overall there might even be the possibility that the author was not connected to the crime at all. Or was lying, or faking this ‘Janice Crum’. Nobody will ever be convicted based on such simple piece of evidence. Nevertheless this little piece of evidence exists and had the author referred to the vandalism on Lindy’s grave, too. So in any case, his ID is interesting. Details also known (killer knew victim, stayed in a park near where she lived, was from the region, admitted to having killed on amphetamines etc.).

And now we got that name. Janice Crum. Police did not find this Janice Crum, in the times when there was no internet, no address databases etc. It might be doubted, not for sure but it might be doubted, that investigation methods during that time – police had to do other things during that time as well as now – a phone book of Mechanicsburgh had been checked to find a Janice Crum there. So imo she maybe had never been interrogated before.

Signing with a fake name? Possible, that’s we had been tinking for a long time. But we even went that far that we searched for a Janice Crum in California, which may or may not have been an address of such a Janice Crum. Furthermore, a fake name could very well be something different, such as ‘Henry Smith’ or ‘Red phantom’ or something else. No, the name ‘Janice Crum’, exceptional as it is, does exist.

If two authors had written the letter, what handwriting sort of implies, this female co-author of the letter might or may not have been unrelated to the crime. Two knifes at the scene. Someone else blaming her for the crime is also possible, but then she possibly had known the killer after all. And finally, the name is female. This indicates a possible female partner in crime or at least she may know about the killing and during that time wanted to clear the things up. Because she knew it wasn’t right what had happened. It should be considered that this Janice Crum, since decades, isn’t very happy about her situation at all. Inbetween she even may be quite nervous after the message we left on her answering machine. Hard to handle that, I guess.

The only thing I’d like to see is an interrogation of this Janice Crum, who lived or/and lives less than 30-40 miles away from the scene. There is nothing wrong with that, imo, and after checking her reaction as well as her handwriting, everything may or may not be cleared up in the Lindy Sue Biechler homicide case. The worst thing that may happen is that a person, who is completely unrelated to the case, is questioned regarding a homicide in which her name had been mentioned.

BTW, someone may want to check out the FB cache (!) of a Janice from Mechanicsburgh (pos. 7, the cache can be activated by drop and down on the green text of the link – scroll down a bit and you’ll get a picture):
https://www.google.at/search?q=janice+C … 3&ie=UTF-8

Update: Appears as if this Janice went to a High school, Camp Hill, in 1970 so she lived in that area around that time.

QT

RE; 2 knives at the scene, one was Lindy’s own knife from her kitchen, she may have used in self defense or the struggle

RE: Handwriting, police think the writing is from one person, not 2. Bottom line, the odds of a real Janice Crum having knowledge, participation in,or being part of Lindy’s case, are slim to none. The letter writer very likely chose that name for some unknown reason, whether it was a teacher of his, his 1st crush, who knows, I can only guarantee whoever she is, she has nothing to do with this case.

Perhaps, the letter writer went to school with her?
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Class of 1970 · BS Education · Home Economics Education · Indiana, Pennsylvania
Camp Hill Junior – Senior High School
Camp Hill Junior – Senior High School
Class of 1966 · Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

I know what her maiden name was, and she was not married while in college in 1970. She would have to have gotten married between 70&76, in order for the letter writer to know her as JANICE CRUM. Problem is, ancestry.com doesnt show much in vital records for state of PA, so no records of marriage, etc

RE; 2 knives at the scene, one was Lindy’s own knife from her kitchen, she may have used in self defense or the struggle

RE: Handwriting, police think the writing is from one person, not 2. Bottom line, the odds of a real Janice Crum having knowledge, participation in,or being part of Lindy’s case, are slim to none. The letter writer very likely chose that name for some unknown reason, whether it was a teacher of his, his 1st crush, who knows, I can only guarantee whoever she is, she has nothing to do with this case.

Perhaps, the letter writer went to school with her?
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Class of 1970 · BS Education · Home Economics Education · Indiana, Pennsylvania
Camp Hill Junior – Senior High School
Camp Hill Junior – Senior High School
Class of 1966 · Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

I know what her maiden name was, and she was not married while in college in 1970. She would have to have gotten married between 70&76, in order for the letter writer to know her as JANICE CRUM. Problem is, ancestry.com doesnt show much in vital records for state of PA, so no records of marriage, etc

Personally, I cannot rule her out, at least not as a witness. Only got extracts from the letter (video), so I can’t say anything about the Janice Crum part regarding its handwriting. Anyway. Couldn’t find any autopsy report either but still wonder about 11 neck stabbings without any defense? Such as turning around, then getting stabbed in her chest from the front side of her body? The second knife found in her body, I don’t think it just came from herself in a try to defend. If she had let it e.g. drop to the floor, someone without (!) a knife would have taken it. And then, turning around, eleven stab wounds in her back? Hm. If she had been putting her groceries into the fridge, one might assume that after 1-5 stab wounds she would have turned around somehow? No..instead she gets one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven stab wounds in her neck and doesn’t even turn herself around? Wonder if someone had held her while she was being stabbed. Or sat on her while she was already lying on the floor. If she had defended herself with the kitchen knife, she may had defense wounds or possibly had tried to get towards the exit of the flat. She was found in the kitchen, with little signs of struggle. No need for a killer, with a knife, to get another one and ram it into her body. At least not if had not put a letter on it or if he had acted alone. There is no sold information about what had happened, but somehow, two knifes, stab wounds only in her back, makes me wonder that only one assailant had killed her. Well, what reason else should someone have to use a different knife for another stab wound after e.g. a rage stabbing attack, to leave it there at the scene?

QT

I have dozens & dozens of pages of Biechler materials, unfortunately, I have more pages than I do time to post them. I will try to do so as time permits. Anyhow, she did NOT have 11 stab wounds to the neck, she had 3 to the neck, and 16 to her torso,chest,back,abdomen areas(19 in all)

I have dozens & dozens of pages of Biechler materials, unfortunately, I have more pages than I do time to post them. I will try to do so as time permits. Anyhow, she did NOT have 11 stab wounds to the neck, she had 3 to the neck, and 16 to her torso,chest,back,abdomen areas(19 in all)]

Good info, nothing written about a 2nd knife here..

QT

Here’s a 12/8/75 article about Lindy from the Lebanon, PA Daily News

I wonder if there could be a connection with this Dr.No serial killer they think he may have been from New Jersey.The sketch of the Caledonia Jane Doe suspect looks similar to the Dr.No sketch. http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/unident … nco_ny.pdf viewtopic.php?f=47&t=967&p=8628#p8628 http://www.007james.com/characters/dr_no.php http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki … ute_Killer http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showth … Wayne-1988

I don’t understand your post Killer Chaser. What about your post connects to the Biechler murder? Lancaster, PA is not right across the bridge from NJ.

Reading the killer’s letter, I think the "Janice Crum" angle was an attempt to convince the reader of mental illness. The writer was attempting to portray a split personality, be it schizophrenia or disassociative personality disorder. The whole "turned me on" thing reeks of a stalker watching her from the outside, as does the vague "relationship" in the letter with no evidence to substantiate the claim. The author uses her full name, very impersonal. Wonder what her family and friends called her. The sex offender killed while trying to escape prison was a rapist, he consummated the act not like this killer. My guess is LSB’s killer may have even been impotent.

The content of the letter reminds me of Zodiac. He writes to the Chief of Police, demands publication, misspells words, and even asks for help. And the taunts to LE as well. Mentions headaches like the caller to Dunbar Show, although likely a hoax in the Zodiac case. I am certainly not a handwriting analyst, but it does not match to my very untrained eye. As for the murder itself, there was no sexual molestation, consistent with all Zodiac crimes.

On the other hand, Zodiac never broke into a victim’s house. The murder weapon was taken from the scene. Now I know MO can evolve as a killer become more sophisticated.

As for Janice Crum, I think she’s a red herring. Remember the college student who wrote to the paper after Cheri Jo Bates was killed? We tend to think Zodiac may have found her envelope in the trash and used her name to send in a letter? My guess is this is similar. The killer pulled her name out of hat or had some passing acquaintance with her. Nothing that could connect Janice Crum to him. Makes sense…if he wants the letter published or even merely sending it to the police, he had to know the police would be check in on Janice Crums in the area. Maybe he had stalked her first.

Didn’t read anything about this Janice Crum, but I found a Janice Crum, who grew up in Hershey Pa. went to Hershey HS, etc….Her last name today is Ewing. So she goes by
Janice Crum-Ewing. Her age appears to be about right.

BayArea60s

Just listened the episode about Lindy Biechler on Morf’s Murder in My Family podcast (great podcast by the way) with an interview of Lindy’s brother. It was extremely intriguing. Somehow totally missed this case here on the board!

The letter sent by someone claiming to be the killer gave me intense Zodiac vibes, pretty much more than any other writing/communication in any other case that could be related to Z. The letter includes the same and very similar expressions Zodiac used in his writings – being capable, calling LE a pig, please print on the front page etc. Stylistically it comes off a bit reminiscent of the Bates letter. I wonder how much exactly of the Zodiac stuff had been published by 1975 and if it would have been possible to someone create a copycat type of message based on that. It would also be interesting to compare this letter and known Zodiac writings with an analysis software in order to see how close they actually are.

Not sure what to think of "Janice Crum". It could be just a random name the writer pulled from a phone directory. I doubt the writer would intentionally use the name of someone who is very familiar with him and could possibly identify him to the police. I looked on Newspapers.com if there’s anything about Janice Crum; nearest to Lancaster Country was a 1955 article about a Janice Crum from Harrisburg with a parakeet. However, there was also an article from 1967 about a theatre group with a member of the same name, though quite a ways away near Pittsburgh (I thought this was pretty interesting considering that there do not seem to have been all that many Janice Crums in Pennsylvania at the time and considering that Zodiac possibly had some familiarity with theatre).

Then from California there was also a Janice Crockett graduating in 1960 from John Swett HS in Crockett, across the bridge from Vallejo. Let’s look at the John Swett yearbook from ’60, maybe we’ll find Zodiac there